Crash Bandicoot is a cartoon-style 3D platform game in which you control a bright orange marsupial, called ‘Crash‘, who can spin to break crates and defeat enemies, and can also jump. The game was developed by Naughty Dog for Universal Interactive Studios and published exclusively for the PlayStation by Sony in 1996. It’s also the first game in the Crash Bandicoot series.

In most levels Crash can run into (and out of) the screen from a third-person, over-the-shoulder perspective, but the game also has some sections that are viewed from the side. The basic aim of the game is to make your way through 32 different levels to rescue your girlfriend, Tawna, from clutches of Doctor Neo Cortex, who has kidnapped her.

You smash crates and collect apples, while also dealing with various animal adversaries, traps, and bottomless pits, and to reach the finish pad on each level. Collecting masks gives Crash temporary hit protection from some enemies and traps, but will not save him if he falls into a hole. There are explosive crates that will blow up if Crash spins into them, but they can be activated (with a timer countdown) if touched, and bouncing boxes that propel Crash higher into the air. If you collect three of the same character tokens Crash will be taken to a bonus level, before returning to continue where he left off. Boxes marked with ‘C’ are checkpoints that allow you to continue from that point if you lose a life.

The game features simple puzzles, like leaving boxes un-destroyed so you can use them as platforms to collect otherwise out-of-reach bonuses (then returning to break them later), and finding hidden crates in each level (the game will tell you how many you missed when you jump onto the finish pad). At the end of each section is a boss battle and these too are also very simple, requiring little effort to beat. Most levels are repetitive and relatively similar, but occasionally you might get something different, like a (highly frustrating) hog-riding level (with bad collision detection), or an Indiana Jones-style race from a rolling boulder.

Graphically, Crash Bandicoot is colourful and well-animated. The music is jolly but often tuneless (not always, but mostly) and the sound effects are the usual “crash, bang, zoom” cartoon cliches. In fact: Crash Bandicoot is one big cartoon cliche, but without much entertainment value.

Crash Bandicoot is mostly aimed at young kids, but does have an extra layer of challenge and frustration for those who want it. Personally, I find the game to be very annoying and the gameplay to be somewhat under-developed.

Crash Bandicoot is considered to be a “classic” by some people, but I’m not one of them. It’s an okay game; nothing special, and is a bit too ‘kiddy’ for my liking. I prefer other, similar 3D platform games, like Croc or Super Mario 64 to this. It did sell over six million copies, though, which makes it one of the best-selling PlayStation games of all-time.

More: Crash Bandicoot on Wikipedia